Couple's Disappearance Stumps Connecticut Cops

They were in deep in debt, but family says there's no connection
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 19, 2015 3:21 PM CDT
Couple's Disappearance Stumps Connecticut Cops
   (Shutterstock)

A Connecticut couple in their mid-50s has been missing for two weeks now, and police are investigating whether their financial troubles—including $2.2 million in debt—may have something to do with it, reports CNN. Their families, however, aren't buying it. Police found the pickup belonging to Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin in a commuter parking lot by the exit of a local expressway on Aug. 9 but say there's no sign of foul play. The Easton police chief says it's possible the Navins are on vacation somewhere safe and sound, but acknowledges that suspicion is mounting the longer they remain out of touch. Money problems had been piling up for the Navins, last seen Aug. 4 at a garbage company they own.

Jeffrey took out a $1.3 million mortgage on a six-bedroom-five-bathroom house in 2005 and stopped paying it in 2007. He lost his third appeal over the $2.2 million he owes in the foreclosure case in July. He also racked up six-figure debt to the power company. The Hartford Courant reports the couple sold another of their homes for $900,000 in June and moved to a rental house. Family members object to the focus on finances and point out that the couple, who earned up to $216,000 a year, haven't touched their bank accounts in this "overwhelming and troubling time," the Daily News reports. Jeffrey's attorney can't shed any light: "I'm in the dark just like everybody else is," he tells the Courant. "I just hope that they're all right." (In Florida, a female firefighter who has been missing for 9 years was just declared dead.)

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